The Center for Health and Counseling at Southeast Missouri State University has a number of events scheduled during Eating Disorders Week Feb. 26-March 2 to heighten awareness about this important issue.

All events are free and open to the public. The week's events will open at 7 p.m. Feb. 26 with national speaker Rebecca Ruggles Radcliffe presenting a program titled "Learning to Live in Our Bodies: Untangling Emotions, Food and Body Hatred." The interactive, lively, humorous and powerful presentation will be held in Academic Auditorium.

An activity titled "Scale of Fortune: A Different Perspective on Weighing In," will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Feb. 27 in the Student Recreation Center Television Lobby. This activity will encourage participants to try stepping on a fun and affirming different scale. No actual weights will be displayed to discourage the emphasis on weighing in compulsively

A nutrition question and answer session is planned for 7 p.m. Feb. 27 in the University Center Program Lounge. Titled "Serving Yourself: Is a Serving of Ice Cream Really Three Cups?" will be presented by Dr. Anne Marietta, R.D., and Myra Bryant, both from Southeast's Department of Human Environmental Studies

Students are encouraged to test their attitudes about eating and weight by completing a short questionnaire on Feb. 28. Questionnaires will be available from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the University Center third floor lobby. The short questionnaire will inquire about individuals' eating patterns. Participants will receive free, confidential feedback from a Southeast psychologist, a dietitian or counselors in training as part of Southeast's Eating Disorders Awareness Week.

A program for supporters of friends or family members with eating problems is planned for 7 p.m. Feb. 28 in the Johnson Faculty Centre. Alex Holshouser and Lesley Wells from the Center for Health and Counseling will present the program titled "Eating Disorders: How to Help a Friend or Loved One"

A panel will discuss the recovery process for people trying to overcome eating disorders at 5 p.m. March 1 in Towers Conference Room 207. This program is titled "A Recovery Panel: Southeast Women Overcoming Eating Disorders." Moderator of the program will be Dr. Beth Mansfield from the Center for Health and Counseling. Participants will have the opportunity to hear about the recovery experiences of several Southeast students who are battling and trying to overcome eating disorders.

Throughout the week of Feb. 26-March 2, Southeast Bookstore and Kent Library will offer book displays, with literature offering more information about eating disorders. Also throughout the week, a life-sized Barbie will be on display in the Student Recreation Center Television Lobby. This life-sized Barbie doll will demonstrate what a Barbie doll's human proportions would be, unlike any real woman. Body image information also will be available alongside the display.

Sponsors of the week include Student Government Association, Panhellenic Council, Center for Health and Counseling, Wellness Advantage, Training and Development, Generations Family Resource Center at Southeast Missouri Hospital, the Department of Human Environmental Studies, Dietetic Internship and Recreational Sports.

For more information on Eating Disorders Awareness Week, call the Center for Health and Counseling at (573) 651-2270.

A quarterly economic outlook report for Southeast Missouri indicates that while growth rates for personal income and employment are likely to slow in the first quarter of 2001, the region can expect to look for continued expansion.

These are the results of a study conducted by the Southeast Center for Economic and Business Research, headed by Dr. Bruce Domazlicky, Southeast professor of economics. The Center is based in the Donald L. Harrison College of Business at Southeast Missouri State University.

This is the first of forthcoming quarterly economic forecasts for Southeast Missouri. The reports are being published in the Center's Southeast Missouri Business Indicators. The report focuses on employment, unemployment and personal income in Southeast Missouri, in addition to data from several national sources. Plans call for expanding future reports to include data on retail sales in Southeast Missouri.

A copy of the report is attached. The economic outlook for Southeast Missouri in the first quarter of 2001 can be found, Here. Data on employment, unemployment and personal income by specific Southeast Missouri counties can be found on pages 6-10.

A fourth week census report at Southeast Missouri State University shows total student enrollment more than 8,700 for the spring 2001 semester.

Total combined undergraduate and graduate student headcount stands at 8,713, up over two percent from this time last year. Total undergraduate student headcount stands at 7,434, up 3.5 percent from spring 2000.

Dr. Pauline Fox, vice president for administration and enrollment management, said she is very pleased with the report.

"It is good news," she said. "We are up in undergraduate enrollment, and we are up in total student credit hours."

Total undergraduate student credit hours stand at 87,834, up more than two percent from this time last year. Combined undergraduate and graduate student credit hours stand at 93,925, up 1.5 percent from spring 2000.

Today's final census report shows: high school student headcount at 538, up 16 percent from this time last year and beginning freshman headcount at 131, down 7.7 percent from a year ago. Total returning freshman headcounts stands at 1,627, down 2.2 percent from this time last year. Total sophomore headcount stands at 1,520, up 13.5 percent from spring 2000. Total junior headcount stands at 1,422, up marginally from this time last year. Total senior headcount stands at 1,890, down 1.5 percent from spring 2000.

Total undergraduate full-time equivalency is up as well. Today's report shows that figure at 5,855, up 2.2 percent from this time last spring. The combined undergraduate and graduate student full-time equivalency stands at 6,363, up 1.3 percent from spring 2000.

Total Graduate School enrollment stands at 1,279, down 4.6 percent from this time last year. The spring 2001 semester began Jan. 16.

Guest soprano Martha Dahlberg of Rockford, Ill., will present a voice recital sponsored by the Department of Music at Southeast Missouri State University on Feb. 22.

The recital is planned for 8 p.m. in Old St. Vincent's Church.

The program will feature works by Marcello, Giordani, Stradella, Faure, Brahms and Wagner. The public is invited to attend the recital. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students and senior, and free to Southeast students with a valid I.D.

Dahlberg will be accompanied by Southeast alumnus, Ryan Kasten of Jackson, Mo., on piano.

Dahlberg holds both bachelor's and master's degrees in voice performance from the Boston Conservatory of Music. She has performed as a soloist in the United States, Canada and Germany. She currently is a private voice instructor in Rockford and is active in the Rockford Chapter of the Lyric Opera Gild and the Mendelssohn Club. She has appeared with the Rockford Symphony Orchestra, singing works of Mozart.

Kasten graduated from Southeast in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in organ performance. He studied organ with Dr. Gary Miller and piano with Dr. James Sifferman. Her received a Master of Music degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he held a teaching fellowship in accompanying and music theory. He has held church music positions in Cape Girardeau and Lincoln, Neb., and is currently the minister of music at First Presbyterian Church in Rockford, Ill. He was the accompanist for the Rockvalley Community Chorale for its performance in New York's Carnegie Hall and was most recently harpsichord soloist in a performance of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 with the Bach Chamber Orchestra of Rockford.

In connection with the GEAR-UP program, the seventh grade students of Charleston (Mo.) Middle School visited Southeast Missouri State University on Jan. 24 to learn about the importance of a college education.

The visit was sponsored by the Southeast Admissions Office and the GEAR-UP program, which is designed to boost the academic achievement of low-income middle and secondary school students so that increasing numbers of students will graduate from high school, enroll and succeed in college. Students were lead by Charleston Middle School faculty leaders including Principal Rob Hicklin, Guidance Counselor Deb Quertermous and Teacher Al Marshall.

During their day at Southeast, the students toured the campus, ate lunch at the Towers residence halls cafeteria and watched the play "King the Man." The visit was one of many activities that students participate in through GEAR-UP to encourage them to aspire to and prepare to pursue post-secondary education.

Activities like Charleston Middle School's visit to Southeast are made possible because the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Post-Secondary Education, awarded a $1.2 million grant to Southeast Missouri State University and high schools, middle schools and learning centers in the Bootheel area last fall to fund the Bootheel Partnership GEAR-UP program. The grant extends over a five-year period and is designed to serve 1,250 students in grades seven through 12.

The Department of Music at Southeast Missouri State University will present a recital of music for piano and classical guitar on Wednesday, Feb. 21, at noon, in Room 205 Brandt Hall.

This recital highlights the international talents of Jennifer Lim, renowned pianist, Jeffrey Noonan, guitarist, and Luteist, and composer Jim Hegarty of St. Louis.

The program will open with a prelude from the Mexican composer Manuel Ponce whose work is noted for its blending of works by Bach and Luteist Weiss. Lim and Noonan will perform the music of three dances by composer Anton Diabelli, followed by Noonan's representations from the English composer Malcolm Arnold's "OP 50." Hegarty will follow with his award-winning blend of piano, assisted by Lim, and his award-winning interactive computer composition, "Translucent Light."

The recital will conclude with Noonan and Lim performing the Spanish composer Tedesco's "Fantasia for Guitar and Piano, OP 54."

Noonan, director of the classical guitar program, serves at Southeast following a career of service to several universities and institutions in the United States, where he was an instructor and advisor to music departments in various stages of classical development. Noonan also serves as a soloist for various classical functions in St. Louis. Noonan holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame, the Hartt College of Music and Washington University in St. Louis.

Lim brings international fame to the Southeast campus through her various piano performances both within the United States and in Taiwan and the Philippines. Lim also has served with the University City Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Missouri Kansas City Orchestra as well as several city orchestras in the United States. Lim holds a doctor of musical arts degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She is nationally certified by the Music Teacher's National Association and serves as an officer for both state and local chapters. Lim has extensive teaching experience throughout the Midwest and currently teaches piano and theory courses at Forest Park Community College, East Central College and St. Louis University.

Hegarty, an instructor of theory and music composition and composer for the New York based "Soul of the Rock" multimedia opera, brings the technology of computers to the field of interpretative classical music for a string of successful multimedia operas. Hegarty teaches theory and composition at Forest Park Community College in St. Louis, where he has been head of the Music Department since 1992.

The recital is open to the public. For more information, call Noonan at (573) 651-2706.